2 BOYS FOUND DEAD IN POOL

Two boys were found dead at the bottom of a pool in a gated community on Thursday night.

Authorities are investigating whether a lightning strike played a part in the drowning deaths of Gonzalo Cid, who would have turned 13 on Tuesday, and Matthew Richard Benjamin, 11.

A neighbor, Jeff Newman, driving by one of the community pools in the Regency Lakes development about 6 p.m., stopped to investigate when he saw the gate to the swimming pool ajar.

He saw "two objects" at the bottom of the pool and told his wife, who was with him, to call 911.

Newman and Coconut Creek Police Officer Jeremy Pilone pulled the boys from the water but were unable to resuscitate them. Authorities did not know how long the boys had been in the water.

"We can only estimate," said Kim Poirier, a Broward County Fire-Rescue worker who responded to the call. "There's a good possibility they were [at the bottom] at least an hour.

"We wondered if they were knocked out," he said. "A lightning strike would do that, but that's just speculation."

The Broward County Medical Examiner's Office will determine the cause of death. Poirier said the boys did not have any marks on their bodies indicating a direct lightning strike.

But authorities said it is possible that lightning struck the water and either electrocuted the boys or knocked them unconscious.

There were three lightning strikes in the Coconut Creek area between 5 and 6 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.

Neighbors watched as Gonzalo's family arrived at the scene. His frantic mother collapsed and had to be helped to her feet.

"We all swim together on weekends," said one neighbor, Tammy Futris. "They're out there playing baseball. They're always in my back yard. I'm just devastated."

Police said both boys could swim. They were wearing swim trunks and had been in the small pool that belongs to residents of the Swans Landing subdivision.

Gonzalo lived in Eagles Cay Way, another subdivision within Regency Lakes. Matthew lived in a mobile home park about a mile away from the pool.

Only Swans Landing residents have a key to the pool, but police said there were no signs of forced entry.

"Never, ever do I let my kids go swimming without an adult, and they're very good swimmers," Futris said.

Gonzalo and Matthew are the 17th and 18th children to drown or nearly drown in Broward County since the beginning of the year.

In another incident on Thursday, an 8-year-old boy nearly drowned after striking his head on the side of an apartment complex pool. The boy, who is from Mississippi, was visiting his cousin at the Pembroke Village Apartments in Pembroke Pines. Police did not release his name.

After a friend saw the boy hit his head, he ran for help. Two adults had pulled the child from the water by the time Pembroke Pines firefighters arrived. He was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, where he was listed in stable but guarded condition Thursday evening.

Over Memorial Day weekend, two other boys drowned in lakes in separate incidents at Broward County parks. Two weeks ago, an 8-year-old boy drowned after sneaking into the pool at Attucks Middle School in Hollywood.

"Obviously, the problem is kids are not being supervised," said Broward County Fire-Rescue spokesman Mike Haygood.

"They're not being taught pool safety. They aren't being watched properly. It's really almost becoming an epidemic right now."

Shannon O'Boye can be reached at soboye@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4597.